


Mind Your Step

by RobespierreforFrance



Series: Non!Gryffindor Harry [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Good Severus Snape, Multi, No Weasley Bashing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ravenclaw Harry Potter, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2019-11-06 21:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17947505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobespierreforFrance/pseuds/RobespierreforFrance
Summary: Blue and bronze have never been his favourite colors, but Harry wouldn't change them being on his robes for anything.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> In no way do I own any professional works of Harry Potter other than fanfiction I've written, fanart I've drawn and my own thoughts. The rest belong to their respective parties.
> 
> ***
> 
> I couldn't help myself but make another HP AU fanfiction depspite having so many others that haven't gotten very far. But I had a lot of inspiration come to me suddenly and I started as far away as I could from year 1 that would still make some sense for a relationship to form. (Also, the first book is now my least favourite with how many times I've written from it haha)
> 
> Anyways, this Harry has social anxiety and isn't friends with a lot of people, including Ron. He IS friends with one Weasley, but you won't find out until later. I've made notes about this story so it has been planned and, yes, this is probably my only non!Gryffindor HP book where the main pairing with Harry is already labeled. I need more George and Harry interaction and some more Fred/Hermione since that was almost cannon and I can't help but find it to work a bit more than Ron/Hermione.... 
> 
> Anyways, go ahead and read! I can't reveal anything yet haha. It's a little wordy but it's a new take on what I'm used to.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> :)

**Chapter One**

 

There wasn't much to do during the sorting other than sit and politely clap for whoever was sorted. Of course, Gryffindor were the loudest but it was to be expected with so many boisterous students packed in one place. Though, not all of them were bad, just some were.... overwhelming for those who weren't used to such exhuberance. 

Harry sat through the first year sorting thinking about what had happened on the train earlier that night.

Dementors.

Terrible creatures, really. If that new professor hadn't been in his capartment, he was sure he would most likely be extremely ill or worse, dead. Despite his infamous bad luck, he considered sitting in that capartment to be one of the luckiest times in his short life. He could still taste the bittersweet chocolate that R.J. Lupin had given him before leaving him alone to talk to the conductor. Well, he wasn't alone. He still had his book laying open on the ground.

As Professor McGonnagal started the M's, Harry's eyes trailed up to the teacher's table, studying the professors once more. 

Flitwick and Sprout, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff head of houses respectively, always seemed to sit next to each other. Harry didn't blame them, seeing as sitting next to any of the other head of houses all the time would sour his appetite. The other professors, like Professor Sinistra, were all well and good, but Harry knew they had no experience on the stress and responsibilities that leading an entire house of students would be. All of those professors always seemed to sit on the outer sides of the main five teachers of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore, as headmaster, sat on the large thronelike chair in the middle of the head table. He wore gastly robes in bright colors half the time, though today it was a calm blue with sparkling stars and moons along the thick robes. A twinkle resided in those blue eyes of his as they peered over the half-moon spectacles that rested on the bridge of his nose. 

And lastly, on the other side of Headmaster Dumbledore, sat an empty chair for McGonnagal and Slytherin's head of house, Severus Snape.

Over the last few years, Harry felt like his relationship with the dudgeon bat of Hogwarts had changed from the spiteful distaste towards the dark haired boy to a somewhat tolerance. The same could be said for Harry himself, who was confused at his potions professor's attitude towards him at first, though now it was more of a slight respect now that the heavy aura of disdain had lifted between both of them. 

A hush of silence as the hat was placed back on the stool and Dumbledore standing up had snapped Harry Potter, the known Boy-Who-Lived, out of his thoughts, bringing him to focusing on the now rather than studiously thinking about his teachers.

"Welcome," Dumbledore greeted, his arms raised towards the enchanted ceiling. As the last of Harry's classmates hushed, Harry could feel his stomach grumbling quietly, and he rested a hand on top, as if to try and muffle the already silent sound. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Another gurgle came from Harry's stomach and he shushed it quietly in his head. Gods he was starving. 

"As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

Oh, right, the search. Harry thought back to what Mr. Weasley pulled him aside at the Leaky Cauldron. He had told the inkett about how the mass serial killer was after him, how Sirius Black was after him for defeating the Dark Lord. At the time, Harry was sure that Arthur Weasley wasn't going to tell him about what he began to overhear him talk to with Mrs. Weasley. But he did so anyways, because "he was a mature young man who I'm sure is able to handle this news for your safety" and "he had the right to know". 

But Mrs. Weasley was sort of right before Harry stepped in. He did have this thought hanging over his head that Black was going to come kill him in his sleep...

Well, if he can get past the common room guardian first.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," the headmaster continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission." Harry frowned as he remembers his unsigned permission form to Hogsmeade. "Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibility Cloaks."

A strange comment and it seemed to be aimed at Harry himself, though he hasn't used the cloak in nearly a year so didn't think it was absolutely necessary to mention. Plus, he wasn't a complete idiot.

Harry zoned out for the rest of the speech, figuring he would ask a fellow housemate if there was anything important mentioned in the speech and wished that the feast would start soon.

 

* * *

 

 

Harry walked down to breakfast the next day dressed in blue and bronze robes, his book bag slung across his torso with a feather weight charm so all his books wouldn't weigh him down on his way to classes. Besides him, nearly gliding across the stone floor, was one of his close friends, Luna "Looney" Lovegood. 

Luna was considered looney to those that just didn't understand her, being called so because of her airy and distant personality and actions that didn't, at all, seem to fit the Ravenclaw stereotype. It didn't help that her unique taste in jewelry and interests seemed to put off those that looked more at reality than possibilities.

To Harry, Luna was a good friend. She didn't push past what she knew were other's boundaries unless it was absolutely necessary; she was quiet and allowed him to adjust to larger groups before delving into anything too serious; she gave him distance when he felt overwhelmed and waited patiently until he felt ready to discuss to her what was bothering him. She may have only been his friend for a little over a year, but he still felt like the second year Ravenclaw could be his best friend.

"Harry!" a new voice called.

They had just entered the Great Hall, where the rest of the morning birds sat at their tables, mingling around with those of their friends from other houses as they ate. It became known that it was okay to eat breakfast at other tables as long as students were being cordial to those around them. Not many spent time at another table for long, but on occasion there was a sixth or seventh year just hanging around the table across from their own.

Gryffindor's Hermione Granger was waving the two of them down to sit besides her at the red and gold table, her usual frizzy hair just slightly calmer this year than last. 

Harry and Hermione did not start out as friends, the older of the two being a bit too demanding and overpowering for the younger to stand without needing space and quiet time. Harry wasn't overwhelmed with her brain power and smarts, in fact he was quiet impressed since he had a hard time remembering a lot of things from stuff he's read. He was overwhelmed with her personality and constant need for being right.

It wasn't until last year, about a month or two before she was petrified, that they had managed to get along. 

Harry and Luna made their way over to the bushy haired girl, who sat back down and seemed to almost jump around in her seat as she waited. Harry wondered if somehow she ate some sugar with her breakfast but decided otherwise. As a daughter of a pair of dentists (a fact he didn't know until they worked together), it was unlikely that she was taught to eat any first thing in the morning.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry greeted, his voice quiet amongst the loud chatter around them. He gave a small smile and sat across from her, Luna silently sitting besides him. The blonde second year hummed quietly to herself as she reached for a piece of toast, buttering it up.

"I'm sorry we never got to talk yesterday," Hermione said, "but I had hoped to. I heard what happened on the train. Are you alright?"

The inkett nodded. "I'm fine. Luckily Professor Lupin was with me when we encountered the dementor. He knew what to do."

"I'm glad," the Gryffindor said. "Aside from that, did you have a good summer?"

Harry tilted his head slightly, eyes trailing up to the enchated cieling as he thought over the summer vacation. He had lots of chores, lots of dodging around, and he blew up an aunt he was barely related too due to out of character anger that surprised even himself. Then he spent the rest of the summer holed up in the Leaky Cauldron with Tom and walked around Diagon Alley as frequently as possible, despite the Minister's warning not to.

Harry decided to focus on the most exciting aspect of his vaction.

"I blew up my aunt and I thought I'd get expelled," Harry said. "But luckily the Knight Bus came and took me to the Minister of Magic, where he explained that no one gets expelled for accidental magic, even if I did end up blowing up a muggle and making her a human balloon."

A twitch of Hermione's lips gave away her true amusement. "Harry, you  _have_ been extremely lucky. I'm just glad you've made it back in one piece. I hope you realize how careful you have to be since..."

"Since there's a homicidal maniac on the loose?" Luna continued on the conversation. "I'm sure Harry knows how careful he needs to be."

"Not very," Harry concluded. "I'm gonna be stuck here all year and won't be going anywhere past the Quidditch Pitch. My uncle and aunt didn't sign my permission form, so I won't be doing any Hogsmeade visits this year."

"You never know, Harry," Luna said, taking the last bite of her toast. "Maybe you might be able to go. You don't know what's going to happen yet."


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New BFF???!! Maybe???!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had hoped to update this with the notes I made about this version of Harry but sadly, stupid and dumb me got a new phone and still haven't gotten off her ass to transfer the important notes to the new phone.
> 
> TL;DR I'm winging this based on what I remember at the top of my head, and you guys need an update.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> :)

**Chapter Two**

 

The start of term was always the easiest and the most boring. Despite already attending their classes for two years already, the professors always handed out a syllabus, telling their students what would (hopefully) happen that year and what they expected from them in class and in homework assignments, how much each thing is worth to their grades, ecetera, ecetera. In any case, it was Harry's least favourite thing to do in class when all they did was do very little magic and talked about what was going to happen if a dark lord didn't come barging into class and interrupt Flitwick's lesson. The likelihood, considering Harry's past record at being with this school, was relatively high considering first and second year.

Degeating the dark lord three times was a feat within itself, but Harry felt a little sorry at the sad attempts on his life for someone who's supposedly very powerful.

Aside from that, Harry was at least excited a little big about this year. He had been able to choose two or more extra classes, electives if you will, to go along with the core classes. Diviniation, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. Unlike Hermione, who confessed to taking all of the electives (how she's managing that, he didn't know) he stuck with only the minimum required: Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. 

The first day of both was rather interesting. Professor Babbling, a woman with unruly red curls and the knack for losing things at random, was very passionate about her work. She had briefly gone through the syllabus, touching on the main points, before jumping right into the lessons. Harry felt he had learned more in that class on the first day than on any other classes he had previously attended.

Care of Magical Creatures, however was much different than he had expected. Hagrid, their newest teacher for CoMC, had decided on a more.... hands on approach than he was told other teachers had taken. The hippogryph in question, Buckbeak, was definitely a breathtaking sight to behold, both terrifying and magnificent to look at. Hagrid seemed pleased at the events that had occured between the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff class and eagerly waved them off, getting the other hippogryphs back into the pen as the next class arrived.

Harry nodded to some of the Gryffindors and Slytherins he recognized from other classes, though didn't talk to a single one. He couldn't find Hermione among the throng of maroon and emerald, but he was sure she was there.... somewhere... he hoped.

The end of the day, however, did not end on a good note. Rumors had spread during lunch on what had happened to one Draco Malfoy and escalated by dinner.

"I heard his arm had to be completely amputated!" a Ravenclaw near him whispered in a hush. "Surprised he even made it to the hospital wing without getting blood all over the walls!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Another Ravenclaw said. "There's no way it can be that serious!"

"I hear," a Huffelpuff interjected, "that the one who did it was Hagrid himself. Completely tore off Malfoy's arm in a fit of rage after he disrespected him in his class. Terrifying if you ask me."

Harry frowned.  _There's no way Hagrid would allow something like that to happen in his class_ , he thought, no longer hungry. He picked at his food with his fork, glancing over at the Slytherin table for signs of anything else other than the whispered words dancing along his table. Malfoy wasn't sitting with the others, his usually posse missing as well. 

Unconsciously, Harry began to bite his bottom lip, tearing at the skin with his teeth as he thought. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table, not seeing any unusual signs of distress coming from any in his year, though he doubted they'd be worried over their longest rival. The stupid house rivalry between the red and green was completely unnecessary and only started just recently. But that thought is getting him off topic.

The inkett didn't feel hungry anymore and pushed his plate away, getting up from the table and heading out of the Great Hall. He didn't feel all that ready to go back to Ravenclaw tower either, letting his feet wander the corridors aimlessly until he decided that he had reached his destination and turned around to head back until he found something familiar.

However, he stopped at a corridor leading to the hospital ward. The green eyed wizard hesitated.  _Don't be reckless, idiot_ , a voice whispered.  _But the facts don't seem right_ , another retorted. 

Gathering what stupid courage he had, he made his way through, his heart beating faster with each step. He kept calling himself stupid, over and over in his head as he saw the familiar doors to the hospital coming closer, but it was too late to stop now. He had made the decision, he has to stick through to it because the armor statues saw him come this way. He had no doubt that some of them could move on their own and could talk to paintings somehow. It was a gut feeling.

"Mr. Potter, why on earth are you here?" Madam Pomfrey's voice called out, snapping Harry from his internalized thoughts.  More like eternalized. "Surely there can't be anything else wrong after the dementor attack the other day?"

Right, he had visited not too long ago, just before the welcoming feast on the first day back. It  _was_ too early to come back to the ward, but he made the choice and boy was he paying for it. 

"I... um, wanted to check in on Malfoy," he said quietly, looking down at his shoes. "Heard he was here..."

"It's a bit late for vistors," Pomfrey said, raising a brow at the dark haired boy. "However, as you are normally very quiet and don't disturb the patients too much, I will let you visit this one time. Next time, please be sure to remember to try and visit earlier in the day.

"Mr. Malfoy is in the bed furthest from the door, as he requested." Then she was gone in a flurry of white healer robes and back into her office to finish filing paperwork, leaving Harry slightly flustered and alone to confront Malfoy.

A few shaky breaths later, Harry was walking towards the last bed, a partitioner hiding the dark sillhouette from prying eyes, though Harry could definitely tell that it was Malfoy behind it. 

"Whose there? Can't you see I'm trying to heal?" his voice filtered through, snobbish and a bit whiny. "I'm seriously injured and I need my rest!"

Harry moved around the partitioner and got a good look at Malfoy resting on the bed. From the new perspective, he could see the white bandage around his arm, still pristine. Everything else about the blonde boy was exactly as it should be, no bruise marks or lost limbs.

Clearly, Malfoy was fine.

"Potter? Why on earth are you visiting me in my state of distress?!" Malfoy questioned, looking offended at Harry's mere presence. 

"I heard you lost an arm," Harry whispered.

Malfoy rose a delicate brow. "Excuse me? I couldn't hear you."

Harry cleared his throat. "There's a rumor saying you got hurt. I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Okay? My arm nearly got chopped off! Of course I'm not okay!" Malfoy was affronted. "Why you care is honestly the real question here."

Harry flushed bright red. Malfoy and him may have not been on the best of terms, especially after first year. The Slytherin didn't necessarily taunt him too much, more into ignoring the Ravenclaw boy in favor of teasing the Gryffindors more than anything as he was a Slytherin. As someone in a neutral house, Harry tried his best not to make judgements too far, but sometimes... Well, the first impression he got from the blonde wasn't the best, but he had been trying as he wasn't antagonized a lot. 

"Sorry if I was concerned for the wellbeing of a classmate," he muttered, looking back at his shoes. "Didn't seem like anyone else was caring. Thought you'd at least appreciate someone checking in."

"Potter, you don't need to stick your nose in business that's not yours," Malfoy glared. He turned his nose away from the inkett and Harry felt that that was his cue to leave. 

As he turned, he swore he heard Malfoy say "But thanks..." but when he turned back to make sure, the blond had not moved a centimeter.

He just shrugged and left the hospital wing, heading back to Ravenclaw tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Draco is possibly one of my favourite characters in this fandom. So if he's a bit over dramatic, well, oops. I see him to be quite a drama queen, even though he's a Cancer instead of a Leo. But, who knows, maybe Cancers are just as Dramatic as Leos are (Harry, looking at you Mr. Follows-Snape-And-Draco-Around-If-They-Look-Even-The-Slightest-Bit-Supsicious). Also, as a Leo, I can confirm we can be extremely dramatic....

**Author's Note:**

> Some dialogue is taken directly from the books. I shall not mark which ones as that will get tedious and annoying and will distract my readers from the actual storyline. 
> 
> Comments are welcome!


End file.
